Sage of Shinigami
by NeonZangetsu
Summary: Destiny cannot be denied. Or can it? Brought back from the brink, raised by a complete stranger, a boy finds a new place for himself in the afterlife. But when old enemies threaten nis new way of life, just how far will he go to defend it? NarutoxHarem!
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Just another idea that's been stewing in my head. What if Naruto died? What if he went to Soul Society and found himself raised by one of the most badass shinigami to ever exist? Just who is this badass you might ask? Isn't it obvious? ZARAKI KENPACHI! Who else would be suited for such an odd an unusual role?**

_"Give me someone strong to fight!"_

_~Zaraki Kenpachi._

**Dawn of Divine**

It had been a bad day for Kenpachi Zaraki thus far, all things considered.

First that pansy Sasakibe tries to style his hair, resulting in his usual spiky locks laying flat against his back and lacking bells of any sort. Then the old far Yama-ji makes him take a kendo class_-again!-_just to learn the way of the sword. What a bunch of bullshit that was! To make matters worse it was raining, and he fucking _hated_ the rain. To top it all off, he was trapped _outside_ in said downpour, patrolling the rukongai in an attempt to investigate the recent series of disapearances as of late.

Well, it could always be worse, he supposed. At least he didn't have to attend another one of those shitty captain meetings, right? Yeah, it could always get worse but hey he'd escaped the worst of it, or so he told himself. Because things were about to get worse. Much worse.

Weren't they?

His hair blew across his face as _something_ passed with impossible speed overhead. He glimpsed nothing more than a ripple in the air itself, the faintest whisp of steam or mist wadded into a ball like so much discarded parchment. Had he not been looking right at it, indeed, _expecting_ something very much like it, he'd never have known it was there.

The world erupted. The murky floodwater was the blood of the earth, gushing from the wound inflicted by his attacker's invisible hammer. A ferocious tide slammed into him, threatening to knock him from his feet and for the first time he was actually grateful for the tight grip of the muck below his feet. Mud, bits of plant matter_-even a smattering of dead frogs and snakes-_rained across the bog, blinding Kenpachi to anything,everything else. His ears rang with a deafening crrrrack, follwed by a secondly enormous splash. Spray spattered his face, the surface of the swamp roiled against his legs, and even without sight Kenapchi Zaraki knew something had happened. An equally enormous reaitsu settled upon his shoulders, seconds later. Yup, definitely something.

Something big.

The air was inexplicably sundered before him, torn apart and replaced by a black, gaping crevice. Kenpachi had less than an instant to recognize this before something tore its way out of the blackened maw of teeth and slammed into him. The blow didn't so much as stagger as it did sting. He brought his blade to bear, just in time for a clawed hand to lock around its jagged edge and yank him forward.

Kenpachi found himself face to face with a hollow. But not just any hollow. Long and slim, standing on slender, spindly legs, it was roughly half his height. Long, red hair lofted around its face, pristine and perfect, a sharp contrast the hideous mask that sheltered its face. It was almost humanoid. Almost, but not quite. A small hole jutted out from the beast's throat, and above it, her violet eyes regarded him like he was so much meat. Because this creature, twisted though it be, was certainly of the opposite sex. She looked at him for a long moment, a dark chortle resonating beyond the demonic visage of bone and porcelain. This was not some average hollow. Not an average adjuchas. No, it had to be something more. It _was_ something more.

It was a vasto lorde.

Despite himself, despite the initial flicker of fear he felt, Kenpachi grinned. There was a fight to be had here! A true fight! Not some petty weakling, whom he could defeat with a single blow! An actual challenge! A challenge! Elation coursed through him, his heart pounding as he wrestled with her, testing his strength against his own. In the end, he'd be sorely dissapointed. Her hands bent beneath the weight of his blows, unable to withstand the ferocity of his assault.

"Come on!" He roared, pressing the attack, pressing his advantage. "Give me a good fight!"

She wilted as a slash slipped through her guard, drawing sparks as it skittered across her steel skin. She returned the favor in turn, her claws driving deep through muscle, his chiseled stomach sinking against the sudden blow. Most would have withdrawn after such an attack. Most would have cringed; shied away from the blow, retreated, and raised their guard in response. Kenpachi did the exact opposite. In that moment of attack he surged forward; seizing the wrist of his opponent and hauling her forward, close enough to touch.

_Close enough to kill._

She gasped behind the mask, a tiny squeak of surprise, drowned out by the crackle of thunder. So too was her scream as Kenpachi's zanpakuto sank into her shoulder biting a off chunk of her once impervious flesh. Her retaliatory strike tore five trenches in the reaper's chest, spattering shinigami and hollow alike in bloody red viscera. Once more he failed to be predictable, Zaraki Kenpachi.

"Is that it?" He cackled, sweeping the hollow away from him with a flick of the wrist. The vasto lorde careened backwards out of control, slipping and slidding across a swampy soil and into the earth. She hauled herself upright with a strangled cry, as he stalked towards her, backpedalling in the wake of his advance. He scowled; mistaking her retreat for cowardice, for fear. It was only when she braced her grey-skinned body against a tree, only when the jaws of her mask clacked open, that he realized his mistake.

_Damn if he hadn't fallen for that one._

The cero ploughed forward, a sinister streak of scarlet in the night. It was too close to block, too swift to evade. Even so he raised his sword against it; futiley driving the steel into the crimson energies that poured forth over his blade and rankled across his flesh. Bathed in the fires of destruction, he felt, rather than saw his blade begin to break. He

_Shit!_

The air grew suddenly thick, heavy against his skin, clogging his ears. A horrible shriek split the night as the sky itself screamed and then the wrath of the heavens_-or perhaps the wrath of hell-_n all unseen, struck the earth. Kenpachi had little memory of the seconds following the impact, save that he lay on his back. The vasto lorde loomed over him a moment longer with her eerie gaze, leering down at him, her prey, in eager anticipation.

Then she shook herself, stepped back, shuddering, quivering with the effort of restraint. Or perhaps it was anticipation? Kenpachi didn't know, and quite frankly, he didn't care one bit. He made it to her knees before her claws found his throat, the razor sharp points caressing his skin in silent warning. He froze. Was she going to finish him? Her claws fell away in answerment. She drew back, nodded as though satisfied, the motion eliciting a short, jerky bob of her rain-soaked hair.

**"Take care of my son."** When she spoke the words were not as he expected them to be. They were not distorted. Nor were they hollow. They were...soft. Sad. She cast long glances at something behind him, as though comitting the scene to memory. The garaganta_-that's what it was!-_slithered open at her touch, and snapped shut behind her. And then she was gone, back into the nothingness from whence she came. Kenpachi stared after her for a moment unable_-unwilling-_to believe his opponent had fled the fight while she held the advantage. And what the fuck was that about a son? Ah, fuck it! He didn't care about that kinda shit!

"Get the hell back here!" He roared into the rain, dragging himself upright. "We're not finished!" His skin screamed in protest and Zaraki in turn screamed for it to _shut the hell up_ and be quiet. Well it was quiet, actually. Too quiet.

The silence was deafening, split only the soft patter of rain and occasional rumble of thunder. Kenpachi spat a bloody gob into the ground and waited for her to return. He held his ground and awaited her inevitabel response Nothing. Ten seconds. Nothing. Thirty. Nohing. Fifty. Silence. A minute had passed now, and still, there was no response. Body and soul aflame with fury, the brash berserker let out a silent sigh of exasperation. Well, shit. No point in crying over spilled milk.

And then, just when he began to let his guard down-

Something struck Kenpachi.

_Hard._

Stars_-whole planets!-_exploded before his vision. It was like kami up and decided to rain the biggest freakin' rock in the universe down on his head. And it freakin hurt! Black spots speckled his sight, not enough to knock the captain down, just enough to stagger him. Swearing a blue streak, Kenpachi squinted through the torrential downpour, his eye narrowed, determined to find the one who had struck him. Hell, he might even have a fight on his hands! A real fight._ Kami knows its better than wandering around the boonies..._

There! A spot of color, of movement, against the rain.

Grinning despite his injuries, Kenpachi yanked his zanpakuto from the dirt and stormed forward, toward the streak of color.

"Oi!" He roared into the rain, his words eclipsed by the thunder. "OI! Get your ass out here and fight me!" When no answer was immediately forthcoming, the eleventh squad taichou waded into the storm, ignoring the sudden silence all around him. It didn't even occur to him, that this might be some sort of trap. Even if was, Zaraki didn't care. He fought his opponents head on, not through cowardly hit and run tactics.

It struck him as odd though, when he realized his supposed attacker had yet to move from where he lay. The rain was lessening now, tapering off into a light drizzle. What he saw there, laying face down in the mud, took all his elation away. He wasn't looking at a hollow. Hell, he wasn't even looking at a shinigami! He was looking at something that he he hadn't seen in quite some time now.

A boy?

He was a tattered, grimy looking thing, his once hideous orange and blue jumpsuit caked now with dried blood and fresh mud. He lay there in a gaggle of arms and legs, with his only other distinguishable feature being his whiskered cheeks and the strange metal plate tied around hius forehead. Oh, and then there was the matter of the gaping hole in his stomach. If he didn't know better, he would've called the kid a hollow.

But he wasn't a hollow.

Even as Kenpachi looked on the wound began to heal, the gaping tear in his gut slithering shut of its own accord. Within seconds it ceased to be altogether. Zaraki grinned, a gorgeous white streak in the darkness. Interesting! This kid was interesting! Bemused, he traced the edge of his zanpakuto across the lad's cheek, opening a small slice along his face. It opened and closed just as quickly.

Not knowing what else to do with him, Kenpachi prodded the boy, with his foot. The blond boy groaned, flopped onto his back, but did not awaken. He prodded him again. Still nothing. Annoying! Kenpachi was just about to lose his patience and swat the kid, with the flat of his blade; about to forcefully jar him back to the world of the waking, when a weight settled upon his shoulder and wrenched his wrist aside.

"You can't do that, Ken-chan!" A high pitched voice floated up from his back. "You'll kill him!" A messy mop of drenched pink hair peeked up over his shoulder, lofting around a young face with brilliant, bright, blood red eyes. The girl was small, no larger than a child. Yachiru Kusajishi. Lieutenant of Squad Eleven and like a daughter to him. Not that it mattered, not that he'd ever bother to admit it.

"I wasn't going to kill him!" Zaraki argued. "I was just gonna wake him up, is all!"

"You can't!" Yachiru pounded her little fists against his back. "You'll hurt him!"

"Alright, alright!" Kenpachi growled, not out of any real anger but rather, exasperation. "Seriously though...what the hell do you wanna do with," he turned to find his adopted daughter grinning from earto ear, her eyes shining like the sun. He didn't like that look; because he'd seen it once before. That only other time had been several decades back when he'd brought her to the human world and she'd seen a puppy. Yachiru had that same exact gleam in her eyes at this very instant.

"Neh, Ken-chan?"

"Eh?"

"Can we keep him?"

_"Eh?"_

"I said let's keep him!" The hyperactive pinkette insisted thoughtfully. "He looks strong!"

Strong?

Kenpachi's first reaction was incredulity. It wasn't the first time his foster daughter had asked to keep something, be it a puppy or some other bauble she'd found in the world of the living. But this one was different. The kid was strong. Of that much he was certain. His body practically oozed raw reiryoku, leaking reaitsu in copius amounts. It set on edge, the two of them. This kid was strong, now. But untrained. If someone trained him, if someone made him stronger...hell yes!

_Now,_ Kenpachi thought to himself, _that would be a fight!_

If this kid became a shinigami, it would make for one helluva battle down the road. Now that, would be something to look forward to. An amusing distraction, a diversion from all the weaklings populating the Sereitei. And if the kid couldn't crack it, ah well. It was a fun thought. The rain had tapered off almost entirely, by this point; the sun thrusting itself through the clouds in a valiant effort to break free from its grey prison, but to no avail. It only succeeded in burning away the fog not the cover of clouds that obscured it from view

"Tch, fine." He grunted at last, slinging the boy over an adjacent shoulder. "Guess we'll bring him back with us."

Yachiru squealed.

"Yatta!"

_"Sasuke..._

The boy groaned suddenly, and seemed to stir. His eyelids fluttered open, revealing eyes of startling, sapphire blue. He propped himself up on his elbows, tried to sit up, failed spectacularly. Yachiru noticed first, her eyes flying wide as she pointed in his direction. The result was quite comical. He scrambled backwards, eyes wide and disbelieving. The sight of was almost amusing. Almost.

"Ken-chan, he's waking up!"

"So you're awake, eh?" Kenpachi grinned menacingly, shouldering his blade. "Good. Now tell me...who the hell are you?" The boy went pale. Doubtless he was terrifed by this great mountain of a man standing before him, covered in blood and soaked to the bone. For a moment it looked as though he was going to faint outright. But he gathered up his courage and shook his head.

"N-Naruto." he replied at last. "M-My name's Uzumaki Na-Naruto."

"The hell?" Zaraki scowled. "What kind of shitty ass name is that?"

But the boy was already under again. His shoulders slumped and his eyes rolled back inside his head, his body collapsing to the rain soaked mud of the rukongai. If one didn't know better, he might have simply dropped dead.

"Ah!" Yachiru exclaimed aghast, crying out as the boy collapsed, "Naru-chan!"

_She's already got a nickname for him?_ the captain groused to himself. _Great! Just great!_

Kenpachi didn't care. Whoever this kid was, wherever he was from, none of that mattered now. You only entered Soul Society if you were dead. Case in point. It didn't matter to him, whether this little _gaki_ was alive or dead. Not anymore. The decision had been made for him. They'd take him to the fourth squad, let those bunch of pansies take look at him. One could only marvel at it; the idea of drafting this kid into the academy, making him a shinigami, all so he could fight one of the mightiest shinigami years down the road.

What _else _was the great Zaraki Kenpachi supposed to do with a boy that fell out of the sky?

**A/N: Alright, brace yourselves, this is going to be a long A/N unfortunately. How did our fourteen year old-genin find his way into Soul Society? Whatever could have caused that gaping wound in his chest? Perhaps it was a certain piercing jutsu used by a certain Uchiha in a certain valley*hint*hint* And who was that red haired female hollow that saved him/dragged him into soul society? Before any of you cay anything, she is NOT an OC!**

**The answers await us next chapter!**

**As you'll soon see, the main pairing is NarutoxYachiru, with a little bit of haremy goodness on the side. With any luck Naruto will become the eventual fourth seat in squad eleven (Since Yumichika didn't want it) and. Oh, and this takes place shortly after Aizen's little scheme involving Hirako and the others. So for now, our darling little Sosuke is still a lieutenant, hahahaHA!**

**As for Naruto's zanpakutou, it will be one unlike any other. The perfect counter to Kyouka Suigtetsu. And just wait until you see his bankai in the future...Oh, and one last note, Yachiru WILL age in this fic, i.e. she won't be stuck as a child forever. Wouldn't be much of a pairing otherwise, neh? One can only wonder how she'll adapt to Soul Society's very own jinchuuriki...**

**Sorry if its short! If you've any questions related to the story, feel free to ask me!**

**R&R! =D**


	2. Breakdown

**A/N: Wow! I had no idea you guys and gals liked this story so much! I seriously ought to cut back on my influx of new stories and update my existing ones but I just HAD to make an exception for this one. That being said, any guesses as to what Naruto's zanpakuto might be? I DID hint that it was the ulitmate counter to Kyouka Suigetsu. And, no, before anyone asks, Naruto's zanpakuto does not make Naruto blind! It is an interesting concept, though**

_"If you cannot accept yourself, then you can never hope to accept me."_

_~?_

**Breakdown**

Naruto woke to blackness. His stomach ached. Ached like some had thrust their hand through it. Which they had. Eyes flying wide, he clawed at his shirt, tearing his jacket off_-when had it been repaired?-_ ripping it to the side. Gone. It was gone! There was no trace of the seal upon his stomach nor was there any trace of the creature it once housed within. Naruto remained both elated and doubtful. The old bastard could be sleeping, for all he knew. But if he wasn't...if he was really, truly, finally gone...

He flopped onto his back. Without the jacket, he could feel the floor through his shirt, cold as death itself. Naruto shuddered. Propped himself on his elbows. Sat up. And still a black void awaited him. There was no light to be found here, wherever here was. Only the darkness; only the frantic hammering of his own heart. It was maddening. Try as he might, the genin couldn't remember the last time it'd ever been this quiet in his lifetime. Ever.

"Hello?" He whispered into the darkness. For a moment, there was nothing. Then, all at once:

**"Accept...**

Naruto froze.

"Is anyone...there?"

The silence was deafening.

He was about to call out again when someone_-or something!-_answered him.

**...me."**

And then he heard it. His voice failed him as he shuddered at the whispers in the back of his mind. A sursurus of sound, one that refused to let him be. He shrank back from it body and soul; from this this stranger, this prescence, this _thing_ that spoke to him in the darkest depths of his heart. Refusing to abide by his silence they grew louder still, an iredeemable catcall of mockery and scorn.

**"Accept me."**

He blinked.

"Kyuubi?"

There was another silence. Then:

**"Accept me!"**

Naruto flinched, such was its tone. The voice was genderless in tone, but if pressed he might have said it was female. Not, that wasn't quite right. Now that he listened now as he really, truly listened he knew that the voice wasn't simply female. It belonged to a woman. Any other attempt to decipher the meaningless babble was rendered futile by an exceptionally loud:

_**"ACCEPT ME ALREADY, YOU FUCKING COWARD!"**_

Naruto cringed, such was the venom_-the sheer vehemence-_wrapped within her words. A clap like thunder knocke

Suddenly it was there. A sword-no, a katana. It hung there before him, its tapered tip, its blue and orange hiltwrap, beckoning to him from across space and time. It was close so very very close. And yet something-common sense perhaps?-stayed his hand. And then his hand was moving, of its own accord. He wasn't afraid, he told himself. He pulled himself to his feet, staggering, tears blurring the world. He wasn't afraid. He wasn't a coward.

Uzumaki Naruto feared little in this world, but his soul shrieked a warning, pleading with his reaching fingers not to close around that simple, innocuos hilt. Naruto didn't listen. And even as he lifted the weapon, felt it shift and twist and grow within his grasp, the whispers coalesced in the tiny corner of his mind where nightmares dwelt where a young boy still felt the clammy touch of dead arms and legs pressing against him from all sides. And they spoke to him a name.

"..."

A name he could not yet hear.

* * *

Naruto eyes snapped open. He woke this time, not to blackness, but to white. A bright, painful white. He blinked though sleep gummed eyes, struggling to comprehend all the sights and sounds_-or lack thereof-_surrounding him. Threatening to swallow him whole. The room he found himself in was white. Painfully so. He shook his head, in an effort to clear the cobwebs. That was a msitake.

Peals of epileptic agony coursed through his skull, forcing his head back against a soft pillow. He lay there for a moment, suppressing the initial urge to shout and rage against the pain piquing throught his head. It didn't occur to him that he felt calm; relaxed, even. Had Naruto given the matter any thought at all, he would have noticed he lacked his usual outburts of energy. As it were, he remained focused on his surroundings, and perhaps, the past.

His last memory_-blurred by the rain-_was not of the Valley of End as it should have been. It was not of Uchiha Sasuke, not of the chidori ramming into his stomach but of some thing else entirely. He remembered pain, the splitting of flesh as the mass of chakra shoved itself into his seal, and then, being jerked aside. Violently. The last thing he'd seen before he came to here-wherever here was-had been a shock of red hair. Then he was awake again and it was raining and he was soaked to the bone. A massive man bearing an equally massive sword stood over him, sporting a small, pink-haired child, upon his shoulder.

And then...blackness.

_'I gotta get outta here!' _Was his only thought. "I need to get back to the village!"

**"You think you can?"** A darkly sardonic voice chortled. **"Just like that? Ah, who am I kidding! Go ahead, prince! Knock yerself out." **It could've been breathing in his ear, so close was the speaker. Naruto froze. Unwilling to risk another bout of jagged torment, he glanced furtively about the room, searching for any sign of the voice. It didn't occur to him that the voice wasn't coming from without, but within. No! He refused to acknowledge that! He had _enough_ voices in his head already!

"Who the hell's there!" And why had they called him prince?

But there was only silence.

**"Better get your ass in gear, prince."** That pitch-black voice cackled at him. **"They're bound to come looking for you sooner or later." **Naruto refused to listen to it to this, _this thing _speaking inside his head! It did have a point, though. He needed to get out of here. Now. Before-

_Holy shit!_

A black-clad figure flashed across the door. It didn't so much as move as it did flicker, there one instand and gone the next. The mere sight of it was enough to set Naruto into a frenzy of motion. Or perhaps that was just the fear talking. Yup. Definitely the fear.

Naruto gasped and bolted upright. Rather he would have, had he not found himself tied down, bound by thick strips of black leather and chain. His struggles served only to alert his captors, as the sound of footsteps reached his ears. The boy panicked, glancing left and right, this way and that. Where was he? Had he been kidnapped? Was this another of Orochimaru's labs? Oh god. Oh good god! That sick snake bastard was going experiment on him, wasn't he! Like hell! _Like hell_ was he going to allow that!

Renewing his struggles only caused the bonds to tighten, however. Naruto sucked in a breath, expanding his diaphragm as far as he dared. Upon releasing his breath, the ties that bound him loosened, if only slightly. It wasn't enough. For a moment, threatened to overcome him. Just a moment. Then the boy felt it. That white-hot sting, not of anger but of an emotion many times more potent than its far removed cousin. Like being dipped into a vat of acid, it set his skin afire with sensation, shoving aside that helplessness to which he'd become shackled.

_Rage._

Cold fury burned the world white; burned into his shackles of chain and cloth. As one they quivered, trembling as the powers-that-be struggled to contain the immutable force warring within the confines of its tentative tethers. The black bonds burst beneath this sudden surge of strength, shredding like so much paper. Relieved, Naruto flung himself forward, towards the door, towards freedom-

And into a transulecent, but no less yielding, barrier.

**"Dumbass!"** The voice within_-STILL not the one from his dream!-_hurled obscenities at him. **"Should've known there'd be a fuckin' kido there!"**

_Kido?_

Black spots exploded before his vision, blinding him to all else. When he finally came to, the voices were closer than before. Much closer. He almost expected his voice to offer an equally tart reply, but it had fallen silence. Despite himself, he tried to rise, tried to make it for the door, but his legs betrayed him. Knees buckling, the genin made it all of three steps before he toppled forward...

...into something incredibly soft.

Naruto blinked. Raised his hands. Placed them against the object protuding into his face. _Squeezed._ Whatever it was, it was soft. Malleable. So Soft. Very soft. Wait. This felt a great deal like...like...like...

"W-W-W-What do you think you're doing?" A girl's voice squeaked from somewhere above where his face lay buried. "Ecchi!" Naruto recoiled_-violently-_as an open-palmed slap cracked across his face and sent him sprawling. _Yeow!_ Since when did someone other than Baa-san hit so hard? Stars-whole planets-detonated inside his skull, blinding him to all else as he tumbled backwards.

Standing before him was a girl. Silver haired lofted around a pale face from which deep, expressive brown eyes shone. Like all others he'd seen in this strange place, she wore an equally strange robe, black as night if not for the white sash...and the deepblush adjourning not just her body, but her entire face.

"Hentai!"

Naruto jerked back as if he'd been _burned._

"I am no such thing!" He decried her accusation vehemently. "I-

"You touched them!" The girl screamed back, her cries loud enough to wake the dead. "You...you...YOU PERVERT!"

Helpless before the righteous fury standing before him, and feeling at least partially responsible, Naruto flung his hands up in surrender.

"S-Sorry!" He exclaimed aghast, sweating bullets. "Please don't hit me again!"

He may as well have made a break for it, for all the good it did him.

_"Bakudo number one!"_ The girl intoned, clutching a hand to her chest, flicking the other before herself._ "Sai!" _For an instant nothing happened. But only for an instant. Scarce had the boy taken a step forward than he found his arms bound at his waist, his legs, locked together. Unable to stand, he tottered forward and thankfully, this time collapsed against

"What the hell!" He hissed through clenched teeth. "What kind of jutsu is this?"

"T-Taichou!" The girl sobbed, all but sobbing from the horrors of her ordeal. "Unohana-taichou! Please! Come quickly!"

A soft swishing sound swiftly alerted him to the prescence of another.

"Thank you, Isane."

_"Eh!"_

That wasn't Orochimaru-teme's voice, just now.

Naruto jerked his head up, just in time to see possibly _the_ most beautiful woman in existence. And he'd _seen _Anko-sensei and Kurenai-sensei. Calm, violet eyes gazed down upon him from a flawless face shaded by a long black braid. Unlike the girl_-Isane, was it?-_she wore a white coat over her black robe_-a white haori over her black shihakusho-_and he knew at once, simply by looking, that she was in charge.

"Oh," She remarked with a warm smile. "You're finally awake."

"How long as I-

"You were asleep for nearly three days." The girl explained to him. "You were quite the sight when Zaraki-san brought you in."

"Who?"

"Ara," Unohana smiled, "You shouldn't be standing right now, Naruto-kun.."

"Really, I'm fine."

_"You shouldn't be standing, Naruto-kun."_

Unohana's expression never wavered, but now, Naruto felt terror. It was something remarkably similar to killing intent. Only worse. Much worse. Suddenly, he felt he ought to obey this woman, for fear of his own life. His body_-still bound by the kido-_was on the table almost before he even realized what was happening.

"H-Hai!"

Unohana smiled, but the eerie aura was nowhere to be found.

"Good. Now, let's check your bandages."

Given no other choice, the genin was forced to submit to their rudimentory examination. When all else checked out, his vitals stable, his wounds practically nonexistent, Retsu bade the boy rise, but not before taking the young Isane aside for a word.

"Taichou, he broke free of a level ninety-nine kido, with ease." Isane whispered, with some bafflement. "How did he do that?" Naruto blanched as both Isane and Retsu turned their combined gaze upon him. What could he tell her? He'd broken out simply because he lost his temper? And what in the nine hells of fire and flame was this kido thing they kept talking about? His anger piquing, Naruto found that he could once again stand and flex his arms as he wished.

"Look, I don't know what's going on here, but I _really_ need to get back to my village...

"Iya!" Isane exclaimed aghast, gawping at him, sticking an accusing finger at the blond. "He did it again! He broke my kido!"

"Huh?" Naruto glanced down at himself, suddenly aware of his own mobility. "Well, yeah. Guess I did. Now, if you'll excuse me, I gotta go-

"Oh, wherever you're from, returning won't be possible." Retsu replied, stifling whatever else he might have said.

"Huh?"

Retsu smiled, a motherly smile that left him ill at ease.

"I'm afraid you're already dead, Naruto-san."

Her words hit the boy like a frozen fist in the gut. Dead? No. No! He couldn't be! That was impossible. Not possible! His heart still beat in his chest! Blood still coursed through his veins! He was very much alive! So much so that it hurt! And yet...he knew. Somewhere, in darkest dregs of his mind, he knew her words to be true. That, was why chakra didn't work properly. He strongly suspected that, should he try to form another kage bunshin, he'd meet with disastrous results.

Really, the fact that he was _dead_ left Naruto with only one option of recourse.

He fainted.

* * *

_(Meanwhile)_

Deep within the bowels of Hueco Muendo, a vasto lorde writhed in agony.

Utter agony.

Tremors shook her slender frame, her body wracked with sobs; born both of grief and relief. Perhaps that explained the violet streaks etched across her mask; a grisly visage befitting one of her stature. A cross somewhere between a shinobi's helmet and a warped hitiate, the mask remained seemless save for the neck, allowing her long, luxurious hair to fall flat against her back. Her lovely red hair. The very hair she'd once hated, come to love, and now hated once again.

Rather, she hated herself.

Her sanity only recently regained, she struggled with the concept of what she'd just done. The terror of what she would have wrought, had she not torn herself away from the living world at the last instant. She'd cried for him, once she realized he was still alive. Wept, really. Her every instinct screamed at her to go to him, to stay by his side, but it was too late, already too late. Just as it had been too late for her from the moment she'd died with all those regrets, with all that worry weighing on her soul...

She'd known this to be his fate, ever since she first brought him into the world on him.

Her entire being, nay, her very soul, railed at the thought of leaving her son with a shinigami. But he had a place there now. With them. Not her. He would have a life there, in the Sereitei. A place of peace, of happiness. Freed from strife and discord. She knew this. And yet...and yet...why did it hurt so much to leave him there? Agitated, she turned her wrath upon a nearby pillar, the arid tower disintegrating upon contact with her fist. She stood there amidst the rubble, wavering, warring with her emotions.

Chains burst forth from her back, flaying into the rubble, shearing even that, to pieces. Gasping for air she willed her weapons to retract, the gilded steel slither harmlessly out of the sand and into her flesh once more. Her anger abated, the vasto lorde sank to her knees and rea

**"Naruto...**

"You miss him, don't you?"

She whipped around, glaring bloody red daggers in the direction of the voice. Nothing. Frowning, chalking it up to her own imagination, she returned her gaze to the perpetual crescent moon hanging above. Imagine her surprise when a deafening reaitsu slammed into her shoulders and forced her gaze to the south

Standing aways behind her, was a shinigami. He was not a thing like the last one she'd fought in te Rukongai. This one was stronger. Tousled brown hair, eclipsed his scalp beneath with dark eyes with spectacles shown. She froze, expecting an attack at any moment. When he made no move to draw his blade, a low gurgle rose from her throat.

**"What do you want...shinigami?"**

The man made a show of adjusting his glasses.

"I'd like to offer you an opportunity, arrancar."

At that, she felt confusion.

**"I am...not an arrancar." **It pained her to admit it, but this was true. A vasto lorde, powerful though it might be, was a far cry from an arrancar, a hollow who'd removed its mask and gained the powers of a shinigami. Rumor had it that an arrancar, if powerful enough, could regain their human form. She might be able to do the same...if she could remove her mask. But...no. She'd trie once before, and many times therafter, but each time it proved too painful to endure.

"Not yet, no." When the shinigami spoke he was careful, taking a hand from his sleeve. Revealed was a small, purplish orb, gleaming and glowing with light. She frowned at it, this streange little sphere, cradled oh so delicately in his palm and wondered. Not yet? What the hell was this shinigami talking about?

**"You're not making any sense, ya know?"**

"I speak the truth." he continued. "This is the Hogyoku which I have created. Capable of breaking down the barriers between shinigami and hollow. Now if only I had someone a willing subject, to tet it on?" His smile grew, if only so slightly.

Her confusion turned to hope and hope into elation. How long had it been since she'd felt such an emotion? Years. A decade, surely. Perhaps more. Aha! Now she remembered how long. Fourteen years. Fourteen years of agony and torment; of loneliness and longing.

**"You...You can make me an arrancar?"**

The bespectacled man offered the faintest of smiles.

"I believe I can help with that, yes."

She was no fool. She knew that there had to be a price to this. A catch.

"Not at all." The shinigami replied pleasantly. "I merely wish to reunite you with your son."

She said nothing; because she didn't know what to say.

"May I ask you your name?" the soul reaper pressed.

**"Kushina."** The vasto lorde felt a trickle of her old self return as she murmured her name. **"Uzumaki Kushina."**

"My name...is Aizen Sosuke." the shinigami offered her his hand. Warily, Kushina took it and shook. "It's a pleasure to finally meet you, Kushina-san." Surprisingly, he didn't so much as flinch as he did wince as her claws dug into her wrist. A small part of her reveled in the pain she caused. The other part, knew that his was necessary. She trusted the shinigami she'd left him with. That one was strong. He would give her son strength. But the boy needed more than one mentor, more than that single-mindedness coming from sheer, brute force.

Her son woulded need a mentor. A guide. A teacher, in the ways of life, and all its subtle, mysterious challenges. Unbidden, her final words came back to her; a blur of sound and sight too painful to dwell upon. It wasn't as though she was entrusting this shinigami with her son's future, but from what she'd learned in the afterlife, he would need an immutable allie-or perhaps, allies-to ground him in the chaos that was sure to come.

It was only a matter of time before Orochimaru, or Danzo_-or perhaps some other misbegotten fool in the shinobi world-_discovered the way to enter into the spirit realm. Not through death as she had, but while still living. She strongly suspected Minato of such tampering, but she'd yet to meet her husband in the afterlife, and long since given up hope. If shinigami did indeed exist, and one had been summoned to seal the Kyuubi, she could only hope for a day in which they would meet again. Ha! she told herself. An unforgivable sin for a hollow, to retain their heart as she had. But she'd done just that and now, now...

...now she just wanted the best for her boy.

**"Can I trust you to take care of my son?" **she challenged, her fingers biting into the supple flesh of his arm. **"To teach him what others cannot?"** She was loathe to try and consort, with a shinigami, but as it were, she had no choice. Until she regained some sentiment of her human-self, she was a danger to her son. And so long as she was a danger she'd not bring herself near him.

Aizen smiled, and, had Kushina been a better judge of character, she might have seen the ambition lurking within that smile. She might have realized whom she was making a deal with; a devil in human guise, a man who had grandiose plans to rule; not only the Sereitei, but the world itself. As it were, Kushina was blinded by his charm his charisma and the promise of a better life, a life without this perpetual hunger stealing away her thoughts of sanity.

"But of course."

**A/N: BRACE YOURSELF FOR A LONG AUTHOR'S NOTE! This story takes a good hard look at the cold reality of things. Naruto has a DEMON inside him. Granted said demon has saved his life several times over and, in the canon, eventual sides with him in the future, but at the same time its also caused him a great deal of pain and scorn. It's only natural that while a dream, he would want to be rid of the infernal thing. ****But IS kyuubi truly gone? Or is the beast biding its time, waiting for a moment of weaknes to overwhelm its host? And just what is this mysterious voice that constantly refers to Naruto as prince? What oh what could it possibly be...**

**Only time(and the next chapter) will tell!**

**And on another note, Isane hasn't quite hit her growth spurt just yet. As this takes place roughly a month or so after the dissapearance of Hirako and co. the current lieutenant is still ****Seinosuke Yamada and not Isane. She doesn't become one until 100 years later. Just a fun fact. Finally, we see Sosuke Aizen for the manipulative little bastard that he is! Planning to use Naruto's own mother against him...for shame!**

**We get to see the entire Sereitei's reaction to Naruto next chappy! As well as all those in Konoha mourning over his 'demise' Look forward to it! Who knows a few of his friends just might end up in the Soul Society in the far-off future...any ideas in that regard? Anyone? Anyone at all? If you've got any ideas else for the pairing in the harem, beside Yachiru, fee free to lemme know in a review!**

**R&R! =D**


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